The Overthrow of Rome Part 1

Today in class we went over a powerpoint and took notes on it. Here are some of the notes that I took. People were losing their farms after returning back from war. the War profiteers traded in slaves, weapons, and often abandoned farms to create large plantations. These plantations are called latifundia. War profiteers used up their wealth to buy up ruined farms. This merged small plots into large estates. The displaced farmers could not compete with the low cost of hiring slaves (Carthage). In 150 BC 1/3 of the population of Rome were slaves. The Gracchi Brothers attempted to carve out special rights for the poor which made them enemies with the Senate. They wanted to resettle many of the city'd poor on small farms and provide welfare for those who stayed in Rome. This would raise the number of independent, self sufficient farmers and would reduce the gap between rich and poor. Tiberius' term as tribune ran out because they can only serve for one year. He tried to get re-elected and this enraged the Senate who had now become his enemies. The Senate/Mob they created killed Tiberius and over 300 of his supporters. Gauis was also killed by the Senate. Julius Caesar was an excellent speaker, good general, very intelligent, and knew how to make friends. He took Pompey and Crassus and they formed a triumvirate. Pompey was a general and Crassus was the riches man in the Rome ( and in history). Julius Caesar was named proconsul of Gaul and he conquered a lot of Western Europe including parts of Germany and Britain. Pompey got jealous of Caesar and the Senate was become worried about Julius Caesar. The Senate told him to disband his army before he returned Rome. Caesar decides to ignore them and cross the Rubicon and make a grand heroic entrance. This near causes a civil war between Caesar's forces and Pompey's troops. Pompey was defeated in Greece and was killed in Egypt after being taken hostage.